This is the perfect book to follow House of Mirth.
Howard's End is has many similar themes to H of M: an inside view of the lives of the wealthy and prestigious, and just how neccessary money can be in this world, what becomes of the ladies who fail to marry, hypocrisy and genuinness.....
But Forster is much more optimistic about the possibilities for his characters. And his characters are much more fun and spontaneous and delightfully human.
Margaret is especially endearing, and maybe I would like to be like her when I grow up.
There are some funny recurring oddments in this book, like whenever Italy is mentioned, someone breaks a framed photograph and ends up with bloody fingers on the same page. What's that about? And I begin to think that Helen is great fun, but that her observations of other people's lives seem to be nearly 100% incorrect.
My weekend is packed to the top, pressed down and overflowing. I will try to read in the various waiting rooms and parking lots in which I am sure to find myself.
1 comment:
Thanks for bringing up the Italy connection - I missed it. I glossed over the two broken photographs and blood as foreshadowing of some disaster connecting Dolly and Jacky. But the Italy thing adds a new layer. Len will surely never see the Italy he can only read about, and there is Charles in Italy on his honeymoon, reluctantly it seems as he would rather have been motoring in England.
Coincidently, an article on social mobility in this week's Economist reports that Britons enjoy neither equal opportunities nor equal outcomes..... "opportunities for the poor to better themselves relatively are hard to come by; a father's income determines his son's to a greater extent in Britain than in any other country".
And Helen's flightiness is getting absurd and tiresome.
Good luck with catching bits of time to read over the weekend. I may be able to steal a few moments myself.
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